Last night, we went to the movies: The Avengers, with mega-decibles and constantly flashing fights. After the two long hours, my synapses were completely shot–I could ingest no more explosions, laser fire or topsy-turvy scene changes. I just wanted OUT. Fortunately, even immortals come to end of their scripts, and The Avengers regrouped for yet another God-awful foray against Evil. (Coming to a theater near you.) But for a while,we were indeed immersed in the Big Picture, a whole wall of weird sequences and poorly related visual segues. Way, way too much….
God’s plan for simplicity would have worked, ‘cept for human ambition. (Did God know that it wouldn’t work, and set us up for Original Sin?) “Don’t eat the Fruit of Good & Evil”, God said. No judging, no evaluation, no weight of morality or extended theological discussions. But we ate: and now we know we’re naked and have to hide. (Genesis 3:8-11) Richard Rohr says, “What [God]’s trying to keep us from is a lust for certitude, an undue need for explanation, resolution and answers. Frankly, [these] make biblical faith impossible.” (THINGS HIDDEN, p.38)
St. Paul reminds the Believers at Corinth, “we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.” (II Corinthians 4:18) Some would call this double-speak, but I think that what’s being shown is again the Big Picture. Our Original Sin vision focuses on the rational and the provable, but persons of Faith are encouraged to revere the mystery and cling to things which we’ll never understand in this life…
Mark’s Gospel remembers when even Jesus’ immediate family thought he was a bit tetched, and came to stage an intervention by taking him home for rest & relaxation. They were evidently missing the point, for Jesus asked, “Who are my mother and my brothers? HERE are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” (3:33-34) Again, the humans around the Holy tried to limit and confine God’s work to the events and happenings they could understand.
We still do, and the Church is the guiltiest culprit! How many times have I heard that the Plagues of Moses were predictable phenomena, that the drying of the “Red Sea” was seasonal, that Lazarus was merely in a coma, as were Tabitha and the son of the Widow of Nain. Bartimeus’ blindness coulda been cured by anyone who took time to wash his eyes, and Naaman’s seven dips in the Jordan set him up for phosphorus cleansing…. Maybe. If that’s what you have to think to satisfy your scientific bent, go ahead. But I really go with what the astro-physicist supposedly said after seeing the precise wonders of the universe: “Wow! Do it again, God!”
God Bless Us, Every One Horace Brown King
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